In the thick fog, about forty meters from the assassin, Hyuga Yu opened his Byakugan, the veins around his eyes bulging. He held up a giant bow measuring a full 2.2 meters, its limbs still trembling, and slowly let out a breath.
"Phew. I made it through another day..."
In his clear, grayish field of vision,
the thick, illusory fog that shrouded everything and made it impossible to see even a hand in front of one's face had lost all its effectiveness.
Before the strongest Insight Eye in the Shinobi World,
the assassin stood right in front of Hyuga Yu like a brightly lit target.
But as a spy assigned to monitor the Hyuga Clan, could he really have been unaware of the Byakugan's abilities?
Of course not.
And had Hyuga Yu killed this ninja, who was at least a Chunin, with a single arrow despite having only Genin-level chakra, because he was stronger than his opponent?
Of course not.
Judging by the level this Kirigakure Chunin had shown, even without using ninjutsu, he could have beaten Hyuga Yu to death in a straight fight in ten minutes or less.
Even the arrow that killed him could never have hit if the man hadn't accidentally used the Hidden Mist Technique, obscuring his own vision in the process.
So why had the fight been so one-sided?
Because of information.
The two sides had possessed completely different amounts of information.
This wasn't information in the traditional sense of knowing yourself and your enemy. As Hyuga Yu saw it, it was a scheme imposed on the enemy.
First, seize the initiative in choosing the battlefield. Then, prepare the conditions needed to use the [Byakugan Invisibility Jutsu]. Next, use the [Byakugan Invisibility Jutsu] to pile psychological pressure on the enemy, forcing him to desperately search for Hyuga Yu. Finally, as the man gradually lost his composure, he used an ill-advised jutsu and exposed an opening. Hyuga Yu used the Byakugan's formidable insight to seize that fleeting opportunity.
One strike, one kill!
Everything hinged on Hyuga Yu's inference, made when he first activated his Byakugan, that his opponent was a Kirigakure Ninja.
In fact, the assassin had plenty of ways to avoid dying.
He could have given up on killing Hyuga Yu and used large-scale ninjutsu to attack indiscriminately in every direction. Or he could have spun around in place like a top. Trying to keep up with his opponent's movements would have exhausted Hyuga Yu faster.
But when a plan was put into action, enemies often acted exactly as Hyuga Yu had anticipated. Even if something differed slightly along the way, things would ultimately still lead to the outcome he wanted.
In a way, this was a false premise.
People tended to let their imaginations run wild.
Clever people were especially prone to it, particularly when faced with an [Information Black Hole].
When Hyuga Yu displayed abilities that surpassed what the enemy knew about him, the enemy would instinctively discard all previous assessments of Hyuga Yu and judge him as someone far above their own level.
People as devious as Hatake Kakashi, with eight hundred tricks up his sleeve, or as single-minded as Might Guy, were relatively rare.
At that moment,
looking at the assassin lying on his back forty meters away,
Hyuga Yu felt relieved to have survived another day, but couldn't help feeling a lingering fear.
So far, he had relied on these tricks to win fights and escape alive from the war. Hyuga Yu knew perfectly well that this approach couldn't work forever, but as an unremarkable member of the Hyuga Branch Family,
he really had no other choice.
With that in mind, Hyuga Yu murmured gravely, "Once I get Wind Release, I need to hurry up and start working on my training plans for [Byakugan Swordsmanship], [Chakra Scalpel], and [Gentle Fist Style: Chakra Needle Pressure Point Technique]."
"My Taijutsu is still too weak. I spent all that time circling this guy, and I still wasn't confident I could even hold my own against him in a Taijutsu exchange."
As far as Taijutsu went, he had trained his footwork and stance diligently, but his punches and kicks—the techniques he needed for direct combat—were still his weak points.
A ninja had only so much time and ability to learn.
The downside of studying both Gentle Fist Style and Strong Fist was that Hyuga Yu knew a little of everything, but aside from the footwork he had trained hard to complement the [Byakugan Invisibility Jutsu], he wasn't particularly proficient in any of it.
Fortunately, Hyuga Yu had a clear plan for his future. Although his chakra level, barely at the second level of energy, meant his potential was destined to be limited,
still,
since the heavens had given him a chance to live a second life, Hyuga Yu intended to treasure everything before him and do his very best!
After briefly reviewing what he had learned from the fight,
Hyuga Yu tidied up the scene, put the giant Japanese bow back in its wooden case, then pulled the arrow—already ruined after being shot—from the Kirigakure spy's forehead and destroyed it.
Then, as if nothing had happened, he jogged home.
The battle that had erupted near the Hyuga Clan Grounds in Konoha soon drew the attention of many ninjas, even the Konoha High Command.
Even during wartime, a Hidden Mist Technique that blanketed hundreds of meters inside a ninja village was a shocking occurrence.
Everyone knew that the Hidden Mist Technique was primarily a support jutsu. In an actual battle, few people would burn through their chakra to expand its range so desperately.
Under normal circumstances, anyone capable of using the technique on such a scale had to be a top-tier expert in the Kirigakure Silent Killing Technique.
Every village kept records of elite Jonin like that. Ninjas assigned to related missions even made a point of gathering information on such powerful individuals.
Before long,
word spread that Jūzō Biwa, wielder of the Kubikiribōchō and one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, had infiltrated Konoha.
A Konoha Anbu squad arrived about ten minutes later, sealed off the scene, and began investigating what had happened.
Meanwhile, a sizable group of wary and bewildered ninjas had gathered in front of the apartment where Hyuga Yu lived.
Fortunately, with thick fog still hanging over the street, no one noticed Hyuga Yu quietly slipping out of an alley.
He then blended into the crowd, pretended to watch the scene for a while, and only left after that.
Although he was the one who had taken out the Kirigakure spy, Hyuga Yu didn't want anyone to know. That was especially true at a time when he was eager to become stronger.
A ninja's information was his life.
And a ninja's combat strength wasn't determined by the titles the world assigned—"Genin," "Chunin," "Jonin," and so on.
Only information, and the techniques a ninja had actually mastered, were the decisive measures of a ninja's true worth!
With that in mind, Hyuga Yu returned to his apartment with a calm expression and climbed the metal ladder to the second floor.
The apartment building wasn't particularly lively.
The people living there were all ninjas who were busy during wartime.
And yet,
a white-eyed boy wearing a Chunin vest had been waiting there for a long time.
When he saw Hyuga Yu finally return with a huge wooden case on his back, the boy, who looked about his age, immediately stepped in front of him. He looked Hyuga Yu in the eye with a serious expression and spoke.
"Hyuga Yu, what have you decided about what I asked you?"
Hyuga Yu looked up. The sight of the boy blocking his way stirred a vague sense of recognition, but he couldn't remember what the other boy had asked him.
"Oh, it's Tetsu. What do you want?"
"Can you call off your engagement to Natsu?"
Hyuga Yu froze, then furrowed his brows and looked at the other boy as if he were an idiot.
"?"
"With all due respect, Hyuga Yu, you really can't make Natsu happy!"
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